In this episode of Red Man Laughing we take you to the "Notions of Nationhood - Tea & Bannock Dialogues" that took place on February 10, 2016 at the Aboriginal Centre of Winnipeg, for a keynote presentation by Anishinaabe Elder, Dave Courchene (Nii Gaani Aki Inini - Leading Earth Man).

In this riveting call to action, Elder Courchene implores us to consider our original instructions as Indigenous Peoples, our obligations to each other and to the land and to focus on "us" and not "them" when it comes to Nationhood and rebuilding our communities.

*this keynote is presented with permission from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and has been posted unedited and in it's entirety.

Colonization has robbed that free spirit and created dependency through its institutions. We have allowed institutions to enslave us, because it is so much easier to turn over your duty and responsibility to something, to someone else. How we suffer because of it. Sickness sweeps across the land and overwhelms our lives. The mind is diseased as much as our bodies. Our emotions are reflected in anger, fear, sadness, grief and loss of hope. We live in a constant state of negative, which is contrary to the Spirit. The Spirit needs to be nurtured by the positive. The most powerful energy of positive is love.